Record | The Cult of Saints

The Martyrologium Hieronymianum is preserved in a number of early manuscripts which share much in common, but also diverge, making it impossible to reconstruct from them a single authoritative text. Below, we therefore offer separate English translations of each important early manuscript. By clicking 'Latin Text' (above), you can view these different versions in their original Latin, set side-by-side for ease of comparison, with also the editions and interpretations of the text suggested by the scholars Quentin and Delehaye. For a full discussion of the Martyrologium, click 'Discussion/Bibliography.'

The Martyrologium Hieronymianum commemorates on 27 November the following feasts:

Perhaps *Marculus, Donatist bishop and martyr, ob. 347, (S00618),
Possibly *Victorinus, martyr of Nicomedia, (S00975),
*Agricola and Vitalis, master and slave, martyrs of Bologna, (S00310),
*Luke, the Evangelist, (S00442),
*Andrew, the Apostle, (S00288),
*John, the Apostle and Evangelist, (S00042) in Milan,
*Euphemia, martyr of Chalcedon, (S00017),
Possibly *Severos, martyr of Hadrianople, companion of Philippos, (S00394),
Possibly *Severus, bishop of Ravenna, earlier 4th c., (01884),
*Other saints, on 27 November in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum: in Nicomedia (S02939).

BnF 10837:

'On the fifth day before the Kalends of December, in Nicomedia, [the feast of] Marcellus, Petrus, Numerus, Herena, Melosia.

And elsewhere, [the feast of] Victorinus.

In Italy, in the city of Bologna, [the feast of] Agricola and Vitalis.

In Milan, [the feast of] Lucas, Andreas, Iohannes, Severus and Euphemia.'

Weissenburg 81:

'On the fifth day before the Kalends of December, in Nicomedia, [the feast of] Marcellus, Petrus, Nomerus, Serenus, Melisus, Victurinus.

In Italy, in the city of Bologna, [the feast of] Agrocula and Vitalis.

In Milan, [the feast of] Lucas, Andreas, Iohannes, Severus, Eufemia.'

In Bern 289 all the entries from 22 November to 24 December are missing from the manuscript.

Quentin follows the manuscripts carefully.

Delehaye confirms the commemoration of Agricola and Vitalis in Bologna, and Luca, Andreas, Iohannis, Severus and Euphemia in Milan, but he also suggests two new commemorations: the burial of bishop Maximus in Riez (France), and the burial of bishop Optatus in Rome.

Translation and comments: M. Vukovic

Festivals

Saint’s feast

Source

The Martyrologium Hieronymianum ('Martyrology of Jerome'), is the oldest extensive martyrology of the Latin West, listing the feast days of the saints for the entire calendar year, generally also specifying where their feasts are held (which is normally their place of burial). It derives its name from prefatory letters copied at the start of the martyrology, which attribute the text to the Church Father, Jerome of Stridon (ob. 420). These letters are present in all the earliest manuscripts, but it is uncertain when they were first attached to the text. The Hieronymianum is the primary source of all later martyrologies of the Latin world.

It is universally accepted that the attribution to Jerome, intended to give the text greater authority, is false, and the predominant scholarly view is that the first version of the martyrology was compiled in northern Italy during the 5th century (probably in Aquileia), though no manuscript of this Aquileian redaction has survived. The text was then evidently revised and added to in Gaul, probably in Burgundy, around AD 600. The north Italian origin of the text, and its Gallic revision, are deduced from the presence in the martyrology of saints from northern Italy, and then of saints from Frankish Gaul. This Gallic version (sometimes referred to as the recensio gallica), just like its north Italian predecessor, does not survive in its original form in any manuscript (Lifshitz 2006, 14).

At some point in the 7th century, and no later than the early 8th, the Martyrologium reached Northumbria (in northern Britain), where it underwent some further revision and additions (Lapidge 2005, 45-46). From Northumbria, the text returned to the continent in the 8th century, and it is here that the earliest surviving manuscript copies were made, as listed below (Lapidge 2005, 73).

Some of the sources that were used by the compilers of the Martyrologium in northern Italy, and subsequently in Gaul, can be identified: the so-called Chronography of 354, a mid-4th-century list from Rome of saintly commemorations, primarily of local martyrs (E010151 and E01052); a lost Greek martyrology compiled at Nicomedia around 360 (drawn basically from Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History and Martyrs of Palestine), which was also a prime source for the Syriac Martyrology of 411 (E00465); the African Calendar of Carthage of 505/535 (E02195 - E02205); and early local calendars from Aquileia and Auxerre (Lifshitz 2006, 20).

The four earliest manuscripts of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum (three of them complete, one a fragment), on which all editions, including our own, are based, are all from eastern Francia and were copied in the eighth and early ninth centuries. They are as follows:

Ms Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), lat. 10837
Written in the abbey of Echternach (in present-day Luxembourg) by a single scribe, Laurentius, between 703 and 710 (Lifshitz 2006, 32). The Catalogue of the BnF, which publishes BnF lat. 10837 on-line, also provides brief information about the dating: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b6001113z/f22.image (click Information). The text of the Hieronymianum is at fol. 2r-32v.

Ms Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, Weissenburg 81
From the abbey of Weissenburg in Alsace. Dated to around 800 by the Wolfenbüttel on-line catalogue: http://diglib.hab.de/?db=mss&list=ms&id=81-weiss&lang=en. Lifshitz argues that the manuscript dates from around 772, and was written in the Carolingian royal sphere, in or around Maastrict (Lifshitz 2006, 4). The text of the Hieronymianum is at fol. 7r-103r.

Ms Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Bongars 289
From the abbey of Saint-Avold, near Metz. De Rossi and Duchesne, in the introduction to their edition, argue that Bern 289 must have been written after 766. The text of the Hieronymianum is at fol. 53v-129v. This manuscript is not yet available on line, but we have been able to check it through a microfilm.

Ms Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 238
From the abbey of Lorsch, near Worms. The manuscript contains only a fragment (five pages) of the Hieronymianum, covering 25 December to 3 January, and 27 January to 31 January, written in Lorsch in the first half of the 9th century: http://bibliotheca-laureshamensis-digital.de/bav/bav_pal_lat_238). The fragment is at fol. 74-75, 1-2.

The standard edition of 1894, by G. B. de Rossi and L. Duchesne, published these four manuscripts in parallel columns. In 1931, H. Quentin produced a new edition, with a commentary by H. Delehaye, which attempted to collate the different manuscript readings into a single text.

Even though all the early manuscripts are believed to descend from the same redaction, they are by no means identical. In particular, BnF lat. 10837, the earliest of all, often contains a text which differs markedly from Bern 289 and Weissenburg 81, which are much closer to each other. Because the text varies between manuscripts, in content as well as spelling, it is now universally agreed that it will never be possible to create an 'authoritative' single text of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum. De Rossi and Duchesne in 1894, facing the same problem, decided to print for each day of the year the text of all four early manuscripts, in four columns, and we have followed their lead. Our edition is essentially based on their edition, though we have checked their readings against the manuscripts, and corrected or removed some letters, words, diacritical marks, and comments introduced by the editors that do not exist in the manuscripts. We have then added three more columns: for Quentin’s text for the feast day, which sometimes comes in one version, sometimes in two, and for Delehaye’s reconstruction of much of the text, drawn from his Commentary. Delehaye's erudition was, and remains, unmatched, and we have leaned heavily on his commentary (which is in Latin), but it should be noted that his reconstructed text often departs markedly from the manuscripts. Using his extraordinary knowledge of the saints and their hagiography, he felt able to combine different parts of the Hieronymianum's text, and to correct garbled versions of names, to produce a more coherent 'original'. We consider each of his principal suggestions in our Discussion (below), and attempt a judgment as to how plausible they are. In Delehaye's extensive notes there are also other, more tentative, suggestions, which we have not discussed systematically.

The reason the Martyrologium Hieronymianum is such a difficult text is because it consists primarily of long lists of names (with no punctuation and no consistency in the use of capital letters), which were often unfamiliar to copyists and so easily garbled. Generally, we cannot get behind these garbled variants, but occasionally we can, allowing us to shed light on how the text evolved into its current, often confused, state. For instance, an entry for 9 March (E04711) probably originally read something like 'In Armenia minore Sebastia milit(um) XL', 'In Lesser Armenia, at Sebasteia, [the feast of] the Forty Soldiers' - in other words a commemoration of the 'Forty Martyrs of Sebaste' (S00103), prominent saints in the East, but less well-known in the Latin West. In one of our manuscripts (Weissenburg 81) this has become 'In arminia minore sabastiani et milia XL', 'In Lesser Armenia, [the feast of] Sebastianus and the forty-thousand'; somewhere in the process of transmission, the city of Sebasteia has become the martyr Sebastianus, and the 'soldiers' (militum) have become 'thousands' (milia).

Discussion

The early manuscripts of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum record on 27 November, first, a number of saints in Nicomedia. Among them, Marcellus could be the same saint who is commemorated a day earlier, on November 26 (E05032), although this saint is commemorated in Africa on that day. Delehaye offers a few alternatives of his name, such as Marcellinus or Marculus. He is, in fact, convinced that this must be *Marculus, (Donatist bishop and martyr, ob. 347, S00618), who is in this database recorded in the entry E00959. Interestingly, this entry also mentions the bishop Optatus, whom Delehaye also registers at the end of the entry for the day.

The other saints commemorated in Nicomedia on this date, Petrus, Numerus/Nomerus, Herena/Serenus, and Melosia/Melisus, are not identified.

Delehaye suggests that Victorinus/Victurinus, who is recorded to have commemoration in two different places in the early manuscripts of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, namely, in Nicomedia and elsewhere, is the same saint who is commemorated on March 6, *Victorinus (martyr of Nicomedia, S00975).

Both of the early manuscripts of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, as well as the editors, then record the commemoration of *Agricola and Vitalis (master and slave, martyrs of Bologna, S00310) in Bologna on November 27.

Also, both of the early manuscripts of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, as well as the editors, record the commemoration of *Luke (the Evangelist, S00442), *Andrew (the Apostle, S00288), *John (the Apostle and Evangelist, S00042) in Milan on November 27. Delehaye considers that Euphemia/Eufemia commemorated in Milan must be *Euphemia (martyr of Chalcedon, S00017). Severus in Milan could probably be, and also according to Delehaye, either *Severus of Adrianopolis, commemorated on October 23 (E04995), or *Severus of Ravenna (bishop of Ravenna, Italy in 283, 01884).

Unidentified saints are listed by us among *Other saints, on 27 November in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum: in Nicomedia (S02939).

Regarding Optatus, mentioned by Delehaye:

Delehaye says about Optat(I)us on 27th Nov (the day of his burial). I think he bases his opinion on the manuscripts of MH later than the ones we use in the database. Here are some of the lines, where he mentions later manuscripts:
"Cod. Cambr.: Depositio Obtati episcopi. Locum depositionis: Romae supplent alia exempla contracta: Gellonense, Einsidlense e cod. 117, Viennense seu Fuldense, Treverense e cod. 1245 [Act. SS., Nov. t. II, 1, p. [147].]." For example, the Codex Cambrensis that he mentions is from the 11th century.
Delehaye says that Optatus´ name appears in Nomina episcoporum martyrum et confessorum qui depositi sunt in coemeterio Callisti [De Rossi, Roma sott., t. II, p. 48.], and there exists an image and an inscription of Optatus:
"Ultimo loco inter Nomina episcoporum martyrum et confessorum qui depositi sunt in coemeterio Callisti [De Rossi, Roma sott., t. II, p. 48.] , signatus est OPTATVS, et in pariete cryptae S. Cornelii effigies eius delineata cernitur, cum hac inscriptione [Wilpert, Le pitture delle catacombe Romane, tav. 256; testo, pp. 153, 460 – 62.] : SCS OPTAT(VS) EP(I)SC(OPVS)."
Further, he writes about Optatus who was from Vescera in North Africa, whose record we, in fact, have (E05072), where Pawel explains that Optatus is believed to have been transferred from Africa to Rome. See E05072 for the discussion, and here is what Delehaye says:
"Lapidis fragmenta ab eo reperta et sollerter composita Rossium docuerunt Optatum fuisse Vesceritanum in Mauretania Sitifensi [Bullettino, 1864, p. 49 – 54; Roma sott., t. II, p. 221 – 25.] , qui anno 411 interfuit Collationi Carthaginiensi. Is esse videtur ad quem Augustinus epistulam De animae origine [Epist. CXC, Goldbacher, IV, p. 137.] scripsit an. 418 [Cf. Morcelli, Africa christiana, t. I, p. 352.]."
Delehaye explains that 27 Nov is not the date of Optatus´ death but the date of his burial in the cemetery of Callistus ("Dies igitur obitus non est V kal. dec., sed, ut videtur, depositionis in coemeterio Callisti").
However, on the basis of the inscription in the church of St. Sylvester, it is written that 27 Nov was the day of his martyrdom:
"In tabula, quae est in porticu ecclesiae S. Silvestri in Capite, seu NOTICIA NATALICIORVM SANCTORVM HIC REQVIESCENTIVM, inscriptus est et natalis S. Optati:
MENSE NOV. D(IE) XXVII N(ATALE) S. OPTATI ET POLYCHAMI [Mai, Scriptorum veterum nova collectio, t. V, p. 56 – 57.]."
In fact, Pawel has an entry in the database, E04721, where he discusses this inscription. The inscription is lost and it is reconstructed by de Rossi.

Bibliography

Editions:

De Rossi, G. B., and Duchesne, L., Martyrologium Hieronymianum ad finem codicum adiectis prolegomenis. Acta Sanctorum Nov.II.1 (Brussels, 1894).

Quentin, H. and Delehaye, H., Acta Sanctorum Nov.II.2 (Brussels, 1931).

On the Martyrologium Hieronymianum:

Duchesne, L., "A propos du martyrologe hiéronymien," Analecta Bollandiana 17 (1898), 421-447.

Lapidge, M., The Roman Martyrs. Introduction, Translations, and Commentary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018).

Lapidge, M., "Acca of Hexham and the Origin of the Old English Martyrology," Analecta Bollandiana 123 (2005), 29-78.

Lifshitz, F., The Name of the Saint. The Martyrology of Jerome and Access to the Sacred in Francia, 627-827 (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006).

Ó Riain, P., "A Northumbrian Phase in the Formation of the Hieronymian Martyrology. The Evidence of the Martyrology of Tallaght," Analecta Bollandiana 120 (2002), 311-363.

On the manuscripts of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum:

Butzmann, H., Die Weissenburger Handschriften (Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann, 1964), 242-243.

Muller, J. C., "Trois manuscrits liturgiques de l'abbaye d'Echternach à Paris," in Abteistadt Echternach, éd. P. Schritz, A. Hoffmann (Luxembourg, 1981), 202-206.

Ó Cróinín, D., "Rath Melsigi, Willibrord, and the Earliest Echternach Manuscripts," Peritia 3 (1984), 17-49.

Libaert, P., "Notice sur 43 manuscrits d'Echternach conservés à la bibliothèque nationale de Paris," Hémecht 1 (1985), 53-73.

McKitterick, R., Books, Scribes and Learning in the Frankish Kingdoms, Sixth-Ninth Centuries (Aldershot: Variorum, 1994).

On saints and calendars:

Farmer, D. H., Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978).

Nilles, N., Kalendarium Manuale utriusque Ecclesiae Orientalis et Occidentalis I-II (Farnborough: Gregg International Publishers Ltd, 1971).

Watkins, B., The Book of Saints: A Comprehensive Biographical Dictionary (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015).

Datum Table

BnF 10837	Weissenburg 81	Quentin	Quentin	Delehaye
V k dec̃ nicom̄ marcelli petri numeri herenae melosiae	V KL. DEC. In nicomedia marcelli. petri nomeri sereni melisi uicturini	In Nicomedia Marcelli Petri Numeri Herenae Melosiae.	In Nicomedia Marcelli Petri Numeri Herenae Melosiae.
et alibi victorini		et alibi Victorini	et alibi Victorini
In itã civĩ boniania agricolae et vitalis	In italia ciuit̃ bononia agroculae et uitalis	in Italia civitate Bononia Agricolae et Vitalis.	in Italia civitate Bononia Agricolae et Vitalis.	in Italia civitate Bononia Agricolae et Vitalis.
mediolañ lucae andreae iohannis severi et euphemiae.	In mediolano lucȩ andreae iohannis seueri. eufemiae.	in Mediolano Lucae Andreae Iohannis Severi et Euphemiae.	in Mediolano Lucae Andreae Iohannis Severi et Euphemiae.	in Mediolano Lucae, Andreae, Iohannis, Severi et Euphemiae.
				in civitate Regiensi depositio sancti Maximi episcopi.
				〈Romae〉 depositio Optati episcopi.

The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world

The 6th/7th c. recension of the Latin Martyrologium Hieronymianum, as transmitted in 8th c. manuscripts, records the feasts of a number of saints on 27 November.

E05033

Liturgical texts - Calendars and martyrologies

Martyrologium Hieronymianum

Saint’s feast

Source

Discussion

Bibliography

Datum Table

Marijana Vukovic

01/10/2021

ID	Name	Name in Source	Identity
S00017	Euphemia, martyr of Chalcedon	Euphemia	Certain
S00042	John, the Apostle and Evangelist	Iohannes	Certain
S00288	Andrew, the Apostle	Andreas	Certain
S00310	Agricola and Vitalis, master and slave, martyrs of Bologna	Agricola, Vitalis	Certain
S00394	Philippos, bishop of Heraclea-Perinthus and martyr of Hadrianopolis (Thrace), and companions	Severus	Uncertain
S00442	Luke, the Evangelist	Lucas	Certain
S00618	Marculus, Donatist bishop and martyr in Africa, ob. 347	Marcellus	Uncertain
S00975	Viktorinos/Viktor, martyr of Nicomedia	Victorinus; Victurinus	Uncertain
S01884	Severus, bishop of Ravenna, earlier 4th c.	Severus	Uncertain
S02939	Other saints, on 27 November in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum: in Nicomedia	Petrus; Numerus/Nomerus; Herena/Serenus; Melosia/Melisus	Certain